Conventional web email systems such as those hosted on Yahoo!™, Hotmail™ or other web sites, facilitate communication between people. These conventional websites generally do not provide a central repository for maintaining current email addresses for members within a social network. Similarly, conventional email client systems such as Outlook™ encounter similar problems in that the email addresses stored in a user's address book or contact list are not always current. In addition to email addresses, electronic address books typically do not maintain current contact information.
Typically, a user must physically enter contact information for each contact in a user's address book or contact list. Recently, V-cards have helped in reducing the actual typing required to enter a new contact into a user's address book or contact list. Unfortunately, contact information including email addresses is not static, thus a user must update his or her address book or contact list whenever a contact changes his or her contact information. However, in order to maintain current contact information, the user must be aware of the changes.